RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)


  • New York wants to govern Iowa and Missouri — we’re suing to stop it cold

    Source: Fox News

    “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously called the states ‘laboratories of democracy.’ In those laboratories, Iowans shape Iowa’s laws, Missourians make Missouri’s laws, and New Yorkers establish New York’s laws. That is a core tenet of federalism — a structural part of our nation’s Constitution that allows for great variation and competition between the states. What a state can’t do, however, is lay claim to the entire country as its laboratory. That’s exactly what New York is trying to do. Its new greenhouse gas reporting rule requires ‘fuel suppliers’ throughout the nation to register with New York and report information related to greenhouse gas emissions. But the rule doesn’t just concern companies doing business in the Empire State. New York has made clear that its new regulation applies to any ethanol and biodiesel producers whose product may, after being blended or sold by others, eventually end up in New York.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/new-york-wants-govern-iowa-missouri-suing-stop-cold

  • A tax system that fines the behaviour that growth requires

    Source: Adam Smith Institute
    by Madsen Pirie

    “If the planning system is an inherited failure of land, the tax code contains an equally striking inherited failure of transactions, taxes that were reasonable revenue-raising devices in their moment and have become, in their present form, penalties on the specific behaviours a mobile, productive economy most needs. Stamp Duty Land Tax is the clearest case. It is a tax levied at the point of moving house, which means it is a tax on exactly the behaviour that lets people move to where the jobs are, that lets an ageing couple downsize and free up family-sized housing for the families who need it, that lets a growing firm’s employees relocate without a punitive toll standing between them and the move.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/a-tax-system-that-fines-the-behaviour-that-growth-requires

  • Churchill and Trump: The Lions in Winter

    Source: The Realist Review
    by Martin Sieff

    “Winston Churchill is still revered in Britain and by old-generation American conservatives and Make America Great Again (MAGA) patriots alike, as the epitome of an all-wise, brilliantly successful Warlord. The truth was the precise opposite, as the great Anglo-American biographer and historian Nigel Hamilton documents in his classic trilogy of books on President Franklin Roosevelt’s wartime leadership …. as the war drew to a close, Churchill was indeed a Lion in Winter. He was an old fool – and recognized as such by both FDR and Josef Stalin at the fateful Tehran Conference of October 1943. … Now the United States is similarly blessed with its own Lion in Winter.” (07/29/26)

    https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/churchill-and-trump-the-lions-in

  • What Pope Leo Can Teach Liberals About Power

    Source: The Nation
    by Felipe de la Hoz

    “As he ascended the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica for his public introduction, the Chicago-born pope was already caught between constituencies that wanted to build on Francis’s transformations and those intent on turning back the clock. Archconservative elements of the church eager to take back the reins after a decade-plus of Francis were initially mollified by Leo’s ‘traditional’ presentation. Less of a public firebrand than his mentor, he cut a diplomatic figure that a friend memorably called ‘a dignified middle of the road.’ But the most hard-line traditionalists proved impossible to satisfy. The fringe, ultraconservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), long a thorn in the Vatican’s side, forced a showdown earlier this month. Dignified, middle-of-the-road Leo responded by unilaterally excommunicating not only the leaders but potentially adherents of the order.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.thenation.com/article/society/society-sspx-excommunication-schism-leo-catholic/

  • They Geofenced the Pews

    Source: Libertarian Institute
    by Thomas Karat

    “In late September 2025, a San Diego firm called Show Faith by Works, LLC registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent of the State of Israel. The filing it submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act laid out, in its own promotional language, the largest Christian Church Geofencing Campaign in U.S. history: a plan to draw digital perimeters around every major church in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado during worship hours, and around Christian colleges on weekdays, then to track attendees and hit their phones with ads. The contract ran to roughly $3.2 million, with a ceiling reported as high as $4.1 million. … The deepest libertarian objection here is not about Israel. It is about the individual conscience, and what it means to operate on it from the outside without its owner’s awareness.” (07/29/26)

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/they-geofenced-the-pews

  • The Dangerous Precedent Behind the Shiloh Hendrix Verdict

    Source: The American Spectator
    by Scott McKay

    “Nobody wants to be stuck defending white people who use the N-word at black people. Since the 1970s, if not further back than that, to do so indicates poor breeding, poor manners, and poor character. We should all know better. And in Rochester, Minnesota, last year, a woman named Shiloh Hendrix committed exactly that social transgression. … after a trial which — to be charitable — could have been better-run, Shiloh Hendrix was convicted on a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace for having dropped an N-bomb on someone who was filming her. And now we’ve got people talking about Shiloh Hendrix and having a debate over the use of the N-word and just how unacceptable it is. Do we need this debate? Maybe a little more than we thought.” (07/28/26)

    https://spectator.org/scott-mckay-dangerous-precedent-behind-the-shiloh-hendrix-verdict/

  • Democracy and the Founders’ Constitution

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by Tal Fortgang

    “As someone who has long profited from and appreciated Roger Pilon’s work, I must admit that I am gratified to see him reckon with my work—however critically—in his recent essay, ‘On the Importance of First Principles.’ I think the root of our disagreement is not that Pilon has first principles and I do not, needless to say, but that we order our principles differently. More precisely, we see principles ordered differently in our Constitution and the system of ordered liberty it instantiates. Pilon is a libertarian, and he thinks our Constitution is, too. … My view is that our constitutional order rests upon the default assumption that at the state level majorities can rule—indeed must rule—limited only by a partly undefined set of rights.” (07/29/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/democracy-and-the-founders-constitution/

  • How To Be An Empire Propagandist

    Source: Caitlin Johnstone
    by Caitlin Johnstone

    “If you want to help the western empire administer war propaganda, one of the best ways to do this is to pretend the violence of empire-targeted governments happens in a vacuum, completely divorced from western imperial agendas.” (07/29/26)

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/29/how-to-be-an-empire-propagandist/

  • Anthony Fauci’s Private Diary and Emails Show He Knew Lockdowns Failed

    Source: Brownstone Institute
    by Ian Miller

    “Sometimes you learn that people are exactly who you think they are. And that may never apply more accurately and comprehensively than it does with Anthony Fauci. Fauci was portrayed, starting in early 2020, as an objective, brilliant, virtually infallible God-like figure. … That’s not an exaggeration; there were Christmas tree ornaments made depicting Fauci as a Pope, there were shrines put up in people’s houses, he was on the cover of various magazines, and he was given a parade of endless, relentlessly glowing media appearances from his fawning, adoring fans. Fans like CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. For most critics it was clear almost immediately that these portrayals and friendly media appearances depicted the exact opposite of reality.” (07/29/26)

    https://brownstone.org/articles/anthony-faucis-private-diary-and-emails-show-he-knew-lockdowns-failed/

  • Trump Keeps Pushing Legally Dubious Tariffs

    Source: Reason
    by Jacob Sullum

    “When you start with a predetermined policy and then go looking for a legal pretext to justify it, you are building on shaky ground. President Donald Trump illustrated that point once again last week, when he announced a third round of broad tariffs after his first two attempts were rejected by federal courts.” (07/29/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/07/29/trump-keeps-pushing-legally-dubious-tariffs/

  • Marco Rubio’s “Democratic Hemisphere” vs. the National Security Strategy

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Joseph Addington

    “Earlier this month, Daniel Ortega, the dictator of Nicaragua, announced that his country would no longer hold elections. In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement condemning Ortega and declaring that Nicaragua ‘cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere.’ There is no doubt that Nicaragua has suffered under the rule of Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, who have run the country as their personal fiefdom for nearly two decades. But Rubio’s rhetoric on Latin America increasingly resembles the neoconservatism President Trump was ostensibly elected to displace.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/marco-rubios-democratic-hemisphere-vs-the-national-security-strategy/

  • Anthony Fauci’s own diary proves what a despicable villain he truly is

    Source: New York Post
    by the Editorial Board

    “As COVID cases and deaths began to soar in the spring of 2020, America desperately needed a trustworthy public-health leader. Instead, we got Dr. Anthony Fauci — and now his diary entries from that time are showing just how incredibly unworthy of the nation’s trust he truly was. Time and again, his private notes contradict what he was telling the world at the very same time, and the stories he’s spun up since to protect his unearned reputation.” (07/28/26)

    https://nypost.com/2026/07/28/opinion/anthony-faucis-own-diary-proves-what-a-despicable-villain-he-truly-is/

  • Fauci Faces Perjury Risk at Senate Homeland Security Hearing

    Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
    by Karl Dickey

    “Senator Paul released the Fauci diaries this week. I read the journals, and they reveal an official focused on celebrity and media praise. Fauci wrote during the 2020 lockdowns about interacting with Hollywood actors like Sean Penn and Julia Roberts. He called himself the most credible scientist in the world. He filled pages with insults aimed at Donald Trump, calling the former president an idiot and totally nuts. I expect public servants to focus on public outcomes. Fauci focused on his television appearances and fame while individual freedoms were sacrificed and small businesses collapsed. … I view this upcoming testimony as a lesson in a core libertarian truth. Harry Browne often warned that government power always grows beyond its intended limits and destroys personal freedom.” (07/29/26)

    https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/fauci-faces-perjury-risk-at-senate

  • Ukraine’s “turned tide” doesn’t comport “with basic military reality”

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Stavroula Pabst

    “Encouraged by Ukraine’s sustained advances in drone warfare, Western media is abuzz with the idea that Kyiv just might be able to defeat Russia after more than four years of bitter fighting. … But this isn’t the first time the press has played up Ukraine’s military capabilities, despite repeated setbacks on the battlefield. As experts warn RS, such coverage reinforces the idea that more military aid can still help Ukraine win back all of its territory, thus downplaying the need for a negotiated solution.” (07/29/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-media/

  • Back in the USSR: Spending Two Weeks in a Real Socialist Country

    Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
    by Patrick Barron

    “So-called ‘Democratic Socialists’ are winning elections in America (New York City and Colorado). I’m sure that no one who either is running on a socialist platform or who voted for a socialist candidate has ever visited a real socialist country. One of the reasons is that there are not that many left. I can think only of Cuba and North Korea.” [editor’s note: Bernie Sanders honeymooned in the Soviet Union, and many American “democratic socialists” have made highly publicized trips to Cuba – TLK] (07/29/26)

    https://mises.org/mises-wire/back-ussr-spending-two-weeks-real-socialist-country

  • Punishing Trump: New War on Saudi Refineries by Iran Allies

    Source: Informed Comment
    by Juan Cole

    “he Trump administration’s 13 nights of strikes on Iran, including on bridges and energy infrastructure, have been followed by three nights of calm. The Iranians, however, clearly do not trust Trump to halt his war of aggression on their country for very long, especially with the visit to Washington, D. C. this week of Trump Whisperer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Even Trump is complaining about Netanyahu’s loud campaign to have Trump bomb specific targets in Iran. To show what they thought about Netanyahu’s warmongering against them, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders sent a barrage of missiles against covert US bases in Jordan early on Wednesday local time.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/punishing-refineries-allies.html

  • The Echoing Failure of Acoustic Gunshot Detectors

    Source: Independent Institute
    by Jonathan Hofer

    “Acoustic gunshot detection (AGD) systems are designed to detect and report gunfire to law enforcement. Promoted as a high-tech solution to urban gun violence, AGD has been widely adopted by police departments across the United States, with California a leader in the number of cities that use the technology. To be considered a successful public safety innovation, a technology would be able to demonstrate effectiveness in assisting law enforcement in reducing violence and solving crimes and do so in a cost-efficient manner. However, AGD does not meet these criteria and constitutes a costly failure that undermines effective policing.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/29/the-echoing-failure-of-acoustic-gunshot-detectors/

  • Is It Just About AIPAC’s Money, or Does the US-Israel Rot Run Far Deeper?

    Source: Antiwar.com
    by Ramzy Baroud

    “[E]ven as fierce criticism of Israel reaches the very apex of American politics, a profound, schizophrenic rupture divides Washington. While the American public, influential media personalities, and top-tier politicians are openly turning against Israel’s unbridled violence, the traditional power structures continue to toe the line. This is explicitly evident in Congress, where establishment politicians remain busy acting as defense contractors for Tel Aviv. … To believe this subservience is a recent phenomenon is to misunderstand history.” (07/29/26)

    https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2026/07/28/is-it-just-about-aipacs-money-or-does-the-us-israel-rot-run-far-deeper/

  • Finding common ground on high-capacity transmission: Collaboration, competition, and a path forward

    Source: Niskanen Center
    by Robin Allen & Zachary Norris

    “Dramatically expanding the high-voltage grid is a top priority to address surging demand from data centers, industrial growth, and electrification. In the U.S., most high-voltage projects are decided through transmission planning processes. Particularly in the wake of FERC’s Order 1000, the transmission planning policy discussions have often centered on longstanding disagreements over competition versus incumbent utility control. The debate has intensified with two recent FERC filings — one urging FERC to suspend or scale back market competition; the other to expand it.” [editor’s note: “The grid” should be abandoned (in favor of local/decentralized generation and delivery), not expanded – TLK] (07/28/26)

    https://www.niskanencenter.org/finding-common-ground-on-high-capacity-transmission-collaboration-competition-and-a-path-forward/

  • The Secretary Trying to Close the Department of Education Did Something It Never Did

    Source: Townhall
    by Ryan Walters

    “For 45 years, the Department of Education has claimed to speak for the nation’s teachers. This month in Dallas, the secretary running it sat in a ballroom full of them and let them speak for themselves. Linda McMahon came to the Teacher Freedom Summit to argue that the best decisions in education are made closest to the child, and that the department she leads should hand its authority back to the states. She made the case, then spent the afternoon in roundtables asking classroom teachers what that shift would mean for their students. The willingness to ask is itself the news. An institution built in teachers’ name spent four decades deciding what teachers needed without much bothering to consult them.” (07/28/26)

    https://townhall.com/columnists/ryan-walters/2026/07/28/the-secretary-trying-to-close-the-department-of-education-did-something-it-never-did-n2680265

  • Is Congress Ready for Reconciliation 3.0?

    Source: Exiled Policy
    by Jason Pye

    “Although the House passed the budget resolution, the Senate hasn’t moved on it. There’s a real possibility that the Senate doesn’t do anything with it. Why? Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) doesn’t have the votes to move H.Con.Res. 113. Instead, Thune, who is in his first term as majority leader, is more interested in moving a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open. The House passed a CR, H.R. 9770, before the recess. However, the House-passed CR doesn’t include the anomalies requested by the White House, which include $1 billion for procurement of materials to build a new battleship.” (07/28/26)

    https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/is-congress-ready-for-reconciliation

  • NIMBYism’s Slow Cancellation of the Future

    Source: Aaron Ross Powell
    by Aaron Ross Powell

    “In the opening chapter of his book Ghosts of My Life, the Marxist theorist Mark Fisher argues that capitalism has destroyed creativity. That art—and he’s talking mostly about music in the book—has stagnated, that it’s no longer dynamic, but is instead endlessly remixing the past. I’ve always found this passage fascinating, because he’s very much onto something, even if not to quite the degree he imagines, but then he pins the blame in the wrong place. To the extent that we’ve lost the creative spark, in the way Fisher presents it, the culprit really isn’t capitalism. Or neoliberalism. It’s instead, to a rather blameworthy degree, NIMBYism.” (07/29/26)

    https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/3mrqtnr7r2c2i

  • Billions Mis-Served

    Source: Common Sense
    by Paul Jacob

    “For decades, cameras have been installed on American roads to snap pics of speeding (or not-speeding) vehicles so that fines can be mailed to the guilty (or innocent) motorists. These cameras are supposedly about ticketing for speeding. But they have also often been used as a means of revenue extraction. Now there’s a new angle. Super-smart, super-dumb artificial intelligence is being merged with street cameras.” (07/28/26)

    https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/07/28/billions-mis-served/

  • Yes, Trump Will Attempt a Coup

    Source: The American Prospect
    by Robert Kuttner

    “On January 6, 2021, Trump attempted to stage a coup and he will surely try again. Last time, only the integrity of a handful of Republican officials spared the Republic that fate. Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, rebuffed Trump’s demand to find exactly 11,780 votes, and Vice President Mike Pence refused to go along with Trump’s scheme, laid out in detail by John Eastman, to refuse to certify the results. This time, Trump is relying on four possible strategies to steal the election. The survival of our democracy depends on whether each of them can be foiled, and how.” (07/28/26)

    https://prospect.org/2026/07/28/trump-attempt-coup-january-6-election-republican-congress/

  • A Free Society is an Educated Society

    Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
    by Ron Paul

    “Students who are not taught the history of America’s founding, including the importance of limiting government to a few well-defined functions and separating power among three branches of government and between the federal government and the states, will be less likely to support constitutional government. Similarly young people who are not taught that prosperity comes from free markets, private property, and sound money will be more likely to believe the socialist delusion that the key to prosperity is surrendering our liberty to politicians. The lack of education in basic economics is why many confuse our current economic system with the free market and thus blame capitalism for problems caused by the government.” [editor’s note: It’s also why many confuse free markets with capitalism – TLK] (07/28/26)

    http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/a-free-society-is-an-educated-society